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Chapter 21: Equivalent Exchange

Lin Zainan brought the sandalwood box into the living room. Yun Ruoyan followed respectfully behind him, a somewhat wronged expression on her face.

Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen were just about to go chat with Yun Ruoyan when they saw her expression. Upon seeing an equally unhappy countenance on their grandfather’s face, they decided against the idea and stood to one side quietly instead.

“Elder Lin.” Pei Yingxiong quickly stepped forward and bowed. “I apologize for bothering you at this hour.”

Lin Zainan blocked him from bowing, his voice clear and cold. “Let’s not bother with these false pleasantries.”

Despite his embarrassment, Pei Yingxiong forged onward. “My son, Pei Ziao, jumped into a freezing lake in order to save your granddaughter, Elder Lin. Now that his life’s in danger, I’m here to beseech you to save him.”

As the head of a family famed for its pillmaking, and as a fifth-tier pillmaster himself, Lin Zainan’s position within the Li kingdom was indubitable. Although Pei Yingxiong had behaved rather tyrannically in front of the Yuns, he couldn’t help but lower his head in front of Lin Zainan.

“Ruoyan has already told me everything.” Lin Zainan sat at the head of the table, while Yun Ruoyan went to stand with her sisters in silence.

This was a ploy that the two of them had concocted, designed to let Lin Zainan handle Pei Yingxiong.

“Ruoyan said that, although she was the one who saved Pei Ziao in the end, he did jump into the freezing lake in an attempt to save her.” Lin Zainan stroked his beard, half-smiling.

Pei Yingxiong wanted to rebuke him, but he couldn’t really do anything to a man like Lin Zainan. In the end, he could only accede. “Yes, yes, my son doesn’t quite know how to swim, and he is a little rash, but he truly tried to save Miss Yun.”

“Indeed, but he does have to know his limits. It’s one thing to try to save someone in need, and another thing to be saved himself. If he were to lose his life, that would be quite a loss.” Pei Yingxiong’s face flushed red.

“I’ll be sure to instruct him well after he wakes up, Elder.”

“Good, good.” Lin Zainan nodded.

Pei Yingxiong looked hopefully at the sandalwood box in Lin Zainan’s hands, asking, “Elder Lin, that’s the core foundation pill in your hands, isn’t it? I humbly thank you for your grace.” Having spoken, he clasped his hands and was about to bow again.

Yun Ruoyan, who was watching coldly from the side, marvelled at his ability to swap faces just like that. In the Yun household, he was just like a tyrant; here, he played the role of a supplicant.

“This is the last core foundation pill left in my household, the sweat and blood of my forefathers.”

Pei Yingxiong stared at the pill in Lin Zainan’s hands unblinkingly, afraid that complications were about to arise.

Lin Zainan continued leisurely, “Even if Pei Ziao had jumped into the lake to save Ruoyan, I can’t just hand this pill over to you so simply.”

Pei Yingxiong’s facial muscles twitched uncontrollably. “Then, Elder Lin, do you have any conditions in mind?”

Lin Zainan stood up and looked at Pei Yingxiong, his gaze appreciative.

“Since this core foundation pill is an heirloom passed down my family for generations, it seems fair to ask for one of your heirlooms in exchange. Although the high-grade furnace you have still isn’t much compared to the pill, considering Pei Ziao’s honorable intentions, I’ll still allow such a trade.”

Pei Yingxiong’s heart thumped, as if he had fallen into someone else’s trap. Subconsciously, he looked toward Yun Ruoyan.

But Yun Ruoyan’s head was lowered, and she looked the very picture of a girl who had just been scolded. Could she really have been the one who had suggested such a thing?

Few people knew about the high-grade furnace that the Peis possessed, and it was hard to believe that a girl of thirteen would be amongst those people. It seemed as if Elder Lin was a craftier man than he had realized.

It had been quite a few generations since a pillmaster last appeared in the Peis, and although this furnace was certainly a treasure, it was rather useless to them. Even so, Pei Yingxiong was reluctant to simply give it away.

“Elder Lin, in memory of my illustrious forebears, my household has long since had an unwritten rule against replacing the furnace unless absolutely necessary.” Pei Yingxiong quickly spun up an excuse.

“Oh.” Lin Zainan changed his tone immediately. “Then, it seems as if saving your heir isn’t an absolute necessity. In that case, please leave, Master Pei.”

“Elder Lin, please wait!” Pei Yingxiong was flustered and angry that Elder Lin would call out his bluff so directly, but he had no choice but to abase himself once more. “Ziao’s my only heir, and I have to save him no matter what. It is indeed a time of absolute necessity.” As if making a particularly momentous decision, he concluded, “I’ll make the trade.”

But Pei Yingxiong also brought up a condition of his: he would only hand over the furnace once Yun Ruoyan had revived Pei Ziao and made sure of his health.

With Lin Zainan present, Yun Ruoyan wasn’t afraid that Pei Yingxiong would suddenly renege on the trade, and so she brought the core foundation pill to the Peis.

As she entered the Pei household and looked at the familiar yard, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help but reminisce about the past once more.

She had spent five years of her life in this yard, five long years in which she had worried about others’ perception of her and tried every possible way to get into their good graces. In the end, she had still ended up on the streets, poisoned and near death’s door.

“Miss Pei, Ziao’s still waiting!” Pei Yingxiong, who was walking in front of her, turned around and urged her once more.

Yun Ruoyan took a deep breath, repressed her anger, fury, and melancholy, and quickly strode forward to catch up with him.

As soon as she entered Pei Ziao’s abode, she could hear a woman howling.

“Ziao, my son, you can’t leave me!”

Pei Yingxiong almost tripped and fell before rushing into his son’s rooms.

Yun Ruoyan recognized the voice: it was Pei Ziao’s mother, her mother-in-law, Madam Liu, crying in a heartbroken fashion.

Yun Ruoyan stood at the door and craned her head in. Had Pei Ziao really died, just like that?

“Stop cursing your own son! He’s not dead yet!” Pei Yingxiong’s stentorian shout cut off his wife’s sobs. He quickly dragged Yun Ruoyan, still standing outside, into his son’s rooms.

“Quick, quick, save him!” Pei Yingxiong pressed Yun Ruoyan against the bed. Pei Ziao had begun breathing erratically, his body half-contorted.

If they had been even half an hour late, Pei Ziao might truly have passed away.

Honestly, malicious people really clung to life like cockroaches! Yun Ruoyan had no other choice but to take out the pill, pry open Pei Ziao’s lips, and force the pill in.

As soon as the core foundation pill entered his mouth, it immediately turned into a nourishing stream of spiritual energy, flowing through his body.

Pei Ziao’s ghastly face began to color once more.

“Ah, what a miraculous pill!” The physician couldn’t help but praise the pill as he took Pei Ziao’s pulse. “Although it might not be a true panacea, his life is saved.”

Upon hearing the physician’s words, Pei Yingxiong smiled and grimaced simultaneously: now that the core foundation pill had taken effect, then the Pei family’s high-grade furnace would soon become the Lins’.

“Elder Pei,” Yun Ruoyan began, “Now that Young Master Pei is safe, I won’t intrude any longer.” She didn’t want to stay in these stifling rooms a moment longer than she had to. “Please relinquish the furnace promised to my grandfather, so that I may bring it to him.”

“I’ll be sure to hand over the furnace,” Pei Yingxiong responded in a business-like tone, “But although Ziao’s life has been saved, he’s still currently unconscious. Miss Yun, you have to wait for him to wake up before you leave, don’t you?”

Yun Ruoyan was very angry at Pei Yingxiong’s deliberate attempt to delay matters, but it wouldn’t have been wise to make a ruckus at his home. In the end, she could only relent.

“It’s true that Young Master Pei jumped into the lake in order to save me, and it’s only right for me to wake for him to wake up before thanking him,” Yun Ruoyan concluded against her will.

The physician informed everyone that Pei Ziao needed to rest, so everyone left in his rooms stepped out as one. The only people left inside were Yun Ruoyan and Pei Ziao, lying in bed.

Yun Ruoyan sat down in a chair, playing with her hands in a fit of boredom. Suddenly, she realized that she had a purple mole on the middle finger of her right hand. She touched it and felt an unusual sense of cold.

“What’s this?”

“The mark left by the Feilai Blade, mistress.” Qiuqiu’s voice rang out from her mind. “Mistress, since you’ve just managed to subdue the blade, it’s still not fully under your control, which is why you see this mark. As soon as you’re able to control the blade fully, the mark will disappear by itself.”

Yun Ruoyan nodded.

“Mistress, you can close your eyes now and try to feel for the consciousness of the Feilai Blade,” Qiuqiu continued.

Following Qiuqiu’s guidance, Yun Ruoyan marshaled her concentration and probed her mind. An image of the Feilai Blade quickly appeared and hovered in her mind’s eye.

As if feeling her mental probe, it spun around in her mind, and Yun Ruoyan subconsciously pointed a finger.

A purple beam flew out from Yun Ruoyan’s finger and broke the window.

“Ah, it seems that your control still isn’t all that good yet, Mistress. Quickly, reclaim the blade!”

Yun Ruoyan was both excited and nervous, and she quickly followed Qiuqiu’s instructions once more to retrieve the blade, which flew back into her finger in another beam of purple light.

“Oh, it’s cold.” At this time, Pei Ziao finally broke out of his coma and spoke up.

There truly had been a gust of cold air when she released the Feilai Blade, but she hadn’t expected Pei Ziao to be so sensitive.

Yun Ruoyan guiltily clutched her right hand. The Feilai Blade and her bracelet’s pocket dimension were her greatest secrets. Before she developed a means of self-preservation, she certainly couldn’t let others know about these treasures of hers.

“You-you’re awake!” In order to hide her nerves, Yun Ruoyan quickly came up to Pei Ziao’s bed and asked, “Did you just wake up?”

“Ruoyan, are you alright?” As if he had just noticed her presence, he spoke in a concerned fashion as soon as he looked at her, “It’s wonderful that you’re alright! I saw you fall into the lake, and...”

That seeming kindness really was quite captivating, but it was a pity that Yun Ruoyan had long since seen through him.

“I’m quite alright; Young Master Pei, you’re the one you should be concerned about!” Yun Ruoyan interrupted him, a cold expression on her face. “Now that you’re awake, I’ll bid my farewell.”

Yun Ruoyan was just about to turn and leave when Pei Ziao pulled her back. “Are you going to leave right after I’ve woken up?” His voice was almost a pout.

His grab caused the hairs on the back of Yun Ruoyan’s neck to rise. That hand had force-fed her poison, had thrown her out into the streets...